By Scott Vanscoy/For OzarksSportsZone.com
The Nixa Eagles used a strong defensive effort and senior Alex Johnson’s two goals to secure a commanding defeat of the Waynesville Tigers, 3-0, on Monday night. Johnson was looking for her second hat trick of this young season, having recorded one against Central last week.
“It was pretty important to me but I have the whole season to score another hat trick,” said Johnson. “It was more about getting the team together. I was looking for the assist, trying to get other people to get a goal.”
Nixa used their skill and their physicality to control the game. Waynesville is still trying to learn to play together, with new girls in new spots and a first-year head coach.
“Nixa is a very good team and they should be proud of their accomplishments,” said Waynesville coach John Box. “They are fast, they’re physical, and they’re well skilled. We’re just learning to play together as a team, learning a new style of play and how to connect, so tonight was a test for us. We did well, there are a lot of pieces of the puzzle we are still trying to put together, but tonight I saw some good things. We were able to build an attack and got forward but just couldn’t find that final pass. Nixa had a lot to do with that, they took it away from us. That’s just the way the game goes.”
Nixa senior Maycie Palmer opened the scoring when she took a crossing pass from Johnson in front of the keeper for an easy goal to the corner.
“It’s pretty important to score first, you want to set the tone in a hard game against Waynesville,” said Maycie Palmer. “They play super hard and are a tough opponent. That first goal was all a team effort. Someone passed to Alex who passed it to me and I just shot it in that corner. It can be difficult to be smaller but I’ve learned to take advantage of it and use my height.”
Johnson, who is nearing the Nixa school records for scoring goals and accumulating total points, kept it all in perspective. When asked about reaching the records, she said she prefers to focus on her team and winning.
“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get to where I am. I couldn’t do it without my team, sending the ball through to make crosses, giving me amazing assists to actually be able to score the goal. I have a lot of work to do this season, this is just the beginning. It’s a pretty good start so far. We have the Parkway Showcase this weekend with some tough opponents. This week we have to crack down hard and focus on getting better as a whole team.”
Nixa coach Evan Palmer echoed Johnson’s sentiments on the value of teamwork.
“It was a good early season win,” said Palmer. “Waynesville always plays tough, they always are very organized and they play hard. It was good for us to see that level. Waynesville is very athletic. They gave us fits but the girls hung in there, and we did what we needed to do to get the win tonight. We crossed the ball well and managed to score on a couple of them. Our timing was a little off, something we need to work on. We played everybody tonight that was healthy. We are blessed to have a pretty deep bench. It gives our starters a chance to get their legs back and we don’t lose much when we take them out. I told them it wasn’t our best performance and I know we’ve got better in us but we did what we had to do.”
Palmer is preparing his team for this weekend’s Parkway Showcase in St. Louis, where they will face tough opponents Lindbergh and Cor Jesu.
“We will have to play much better this weekend,” said Palmer. “We try to turn too much, try to do it the hard way when there is a much easier way. Once we learn that, we should be pretty tough. We will have our mettle tested this weekend.”
Waynesville 0, Nixa 3
Waynesville                     0-0—-0
Nixa                                  2-1—-3
First Half
Nixa – Maycie Palmer (Alex Johnson assist)
Nixa – Johnson (Palmer assist)
Second Half
Nixa – Johnson (Madisyn Pritchett and Bailey Hunsicker assist)
